


Avery Takes on Nacht and Gets a Lifetime Ban from Target

by kingkongbway



Category: Hustle Cat (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 10:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19439872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingkongbway/pseuds/kingkongbway
Summary: Avery goes out to buy hair dye at Target and runs into someone unexpected. (Nacht. It's Nacht.)





	Avery Takes on Nacht and Gets a Lifetime Ban from Target

My roots have been growing out for a while now. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I needed to wait for a little bit so there was actually enough hair to bleach. It’s not healthy to just pour bleach all over your head and just hope it makes your hair white, you know? I’ve made a few terrible hair mistakes in my lifetime, but I know enough now to avoid dissolving my hair off my head. Past Avery totally rocked the bald look for a while, though. It’s nice, here in the city, I can even get salon-quality bleach. Back home, I had to settle for whatever hair stuff the general store carried, which wasn’t much. Finch started ordering in stuff just for me, but he wasn’t about to spend half his daily profits on something that only one person would buy.

The Target near the café has the good stuff. So this morning I decided I’d skip the usual hang-out sesh with my co-workers on our day off, and fix my hair. Besides, I don’t really want to see Reese today, because I accidentally spilled coffee on him yesterday, and I think he’s planning a revenge plot. I haven’t seen him try anything since my first day, with the whole uniform thing, but I’m sure he could come up with something even worse. Maybe he could talk Graves into pushing his more recent uniform design just a bit harder. I shudder at the thought.

I walk into Target. I’ve been here so many times since I started working at the café that I don’t even need to look to see where I’m going. I get to the hair products section where the bleach I need is, on auto-pilot the whole time. I reach for my hair product. I feel someone else’s hand on the thing I need. I look up to see who—my eyes go wide and my heart races. Nacht. It’s a little unreal seeing him now, under the bright fluorescent lights of a Target, and not in the dim moonlight outside of the café.

“What are you doing here?” I demand.

He seems surprised. “I… I’m buying hair bleach.”

“You bleach your hair?”

“It doesn’t grow this way naturally, kitten.”

I glance back to the bleach. There’s only one container left. “Listen… I really need this.”

“I don’t think you understand. When I set my mind on somethin’—”

“I need this.” Our hands are still touching, neither of us willing to let go and risk the other taking it.

“I need it more.”

“Nacht, my roots—”

“What about my roots!?”

“I don’t care about your roots! Can’t you magic that or something?”

His eyes narrow, and his voice drops. “I could rust you right now.”

“I- I’m not scared of you.” Okay, I am a little scared. He nearly killed all of us the last time we had a run-in.

He puts his free hand behind him, on the edge of his cart. I hadn’t noticed it before, but I guess he’s doing some grocery shopping? Whatever. He’s not getting my bleach. He tenses his grip on the cart, and I’m worried he’s going to fling it at me, but then a small amount of rust spreads where his hand is.

“I’m not bluffing. You shouldn’a come here today, kitten.”

I look around for trash, now a bit intimidated. There isn’t any. Damn you, Target employees! I force myself to make eye contact and stand up a bit straighter. I’m holding my ground. He wouldn’t _really_ try anything here, would he?

He raises an eyebrow and laughs. “Don’t make me do somethin’ I’m gonna regret, sweetheart.”

“I have Graves’s cellphone number now. I could call him, and he’d be here in five to ten minutes, depending on traffic.”

“That’s five to ten minutes too late,” he snarls. Before I realize what he’s doing, his hand is off the bleach, and inside his cart. He pulls his bat out and takes a swing. I let go of the bleach and duck, but I feel the air brush my hair back. His bat connects with products on the aisle. Unopened hair dye tumbles to the ground in front of me. That’s trash, right? Loosely speaking? Nobody’s going to buy that now…

I use my magic to grab at it and throw it at him. It doesn’t bother him much. He bats most of it away, then shoots rust in my direction. I create a shield as fast as I can. It falls apart when the rust hits it, but it prevents me from getting hit.

“Excuse me!” a voice calls. Nacht doesn’t stop to look, so neither do I. He takes another swing at me, and I drop to the ground to dodge. Whoever it is continues. “I’ve called security.”

“Security?” Nacht laughs. “What are they going to do? Escort me out?”

Nacht is grabbed from behind by someone in Target reds. I laugh for a second, but then I feel another employee grab me. I look up to see a security camera and mouth some things I should not say in its direction. Whoever’s manning that had better be willing to buy my damn bleach.

We are forcibly removed from the Target. Finley will think this is hilarious, but I’m not so convinced. I sit down on one of the Target balls and sigh.

“I can’t believe you got me banned from Target,” Nacht says. I look to see he’s staring me down. He’s not obviously angry, but he looks at least a little… displeased. I’m just glad security confiscated his bat.

“Like this is my fault? I can’t believe _you_ got _me_ banned from Target!”

“You shoulda just let me have the bleach.”

“You tried to decapitate me with a bat! How is that my fault!?” I jump up, and start to walk away. He grabs my shoulder.

“Listen here, kid, I’m not going back home without white hair.”

I pause. Maybe we have a common goal. Maybe we can work together for five minutes. “Well… There’s a Party City a few blocks from here. We could get some temporary spray dye until we find a new place that sells decent bleach.”

Nacht nods slowly. “That’ll do. For now.”

“I think I only have enough for three cans,” I say.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head, I betcha I can steal four of ‘em.”

“God, no! You are not getting us banned from Party City, too! I was going to buy Graves’s birthday present from their Halloween display.”

“We won’t get banned, because I won’t get caught. As long as you don’t get in the way.”

Well… As long as I get my hair to be the right color, I guess it’s okay. Besides, shoplifting at Party City is better than whatever Reese has in store for me when I get back to the café.

**Author's Note:**

> i don't know how hair dye works


End file.
